Introduction
Lewis Hamilton has claimed a long-awaited 2024 Formula 1 British Grand Prix victory in a thrilling race at Silverstone, with the Mercedes driver holding off a challenge from Lando Norris to take the win.
Click here to subscribe to our print edition!
While pole-sitter George Russell had led away from Hamilton as the event got underway, an exciting battle soon unfolded between the Mercedes cars and the McLaren pair of Norris and Oscar Piastri amid changing weather conditions.
The lead changed hands after the opening phase of the race when the field began to switch to intermediate tyres. The skies later became dry, and Hamilton capitalised from pitting for slicks one lap before Norris—who also faced a slow pit stop—to become the new race leader.
While Russell retired with a water system issue – and Max Verstappen snatched P2 from Norris in the latter stages – Hamilton held position to clinch an emotional victory, a record ninth win in a single Grand Prix and his first P1 result since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Despite looking increasingly quick on the hard tyres in the final laps, Verstappen did not have enough time to fight for the lead and crossed the line in P2 for Red Bull, while Norris completed the podium in third.
The other McLaren of Piastri took fourth, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fifth and an impressive Nico Hulkenberg in sixth for Haas. It was a better weekend than late for Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, while Alex Albon scored two valuable points for Williams in ninth.
Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10 for RB, with Logan Sargeant missing out for Williams in P11 from Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in P12, and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo followed in P13.
It was a disappointing outcome for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari man had earlier made gains but slipped backwards after making an early switch to the intermediate tyres, eventually crossing the line in P14.
Valtteri Bottas was the lead Kick Sauber in the 15th, while Esteban Ocon claimed the 16th in a tough day for Alpine. Sergio Perez, meanwhile, faced another tough outing, ending the day down in 17th.
Zhou Guanyu became the final classified runner in P18 for Kick Sauber, while Russell was one of two retirees owing to that aforementioned water system issue.
Pierre Gasly also failed to finish, returning to the pits at the end of the formation lap. It later transpired that the Alpine had been suffering from a gearbox problem.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
We witnessed a fascinating Grand Prix at the end of a hectic weekend, featuring a great show on the track and in the grandstands. It was a testing weekend because we tested almost our entire range of tyres in different conditions on one of the most challenging tracks on the championship calendar.
Right from Friday, it was evident that all three dry-weather compounds could play an essential role in this race, and that was confirmed today. In terms of strategy, the pre-race predictions were more or less respected. Leaving aside the rain, the length of the first stint on the Mediums and the performance of the Hard for those like Verstappen and Sainz, who used them in the final stint, demonstrated how a C2/C1 combination could be very competitive. The C3 suffered a bit more, partly because it was used in push mode towards the end of the race on a still pretty green track because of all the rain this weekend.
The day on the track:
For Pirelli, this was a very colourful Grand Prix, a four-colour one, to be precise, as four tyre compounds with their distinctive colour bands were brought into play – red for the Soft, yellow for the Medium, white for the Hard and green for the Intermediate and all four did in fact play an important role in a race where the track switched from dry to wet and back again and with temperatures that varied by around ten degrees depending on what the weather was doing.
The first part featured the Medium, used by 17 drivers on the grid, the exceptions being Ocon and Zhou, who opted for the Soft while, starting from pitlane, Perez went with the Hard. The C2 worked well because the drivers could push even when carrying a full fuel load, while it also enabled them to manage the tricky conditions when the rain started to fall. Furthermore, the Medium ensured greater flexibility as to when to make the first pit stop, given that the threat of rain had made itself felt even before the start.
Then, it was the turn of the Intermediate to take centre stage when the crossover point arrived. Leclerc and Perez had chosen to switch to this tyre early and now found themselves with a set of worn tyres just when the track conditions were most suited to them, and they had to come in for a second set. In fact, there was never as much water on the track as yesterday in FP3, which meant this type of tyre would obviously wear much more quickly as the track had dried out. The final part saw all three dry-weather compounds compete on equal terms. It was interesting to observe how, especially among the leaders, the various car-driver packages were comfortable with different compounds: Hamilton took the win for Mercedes with the Soft, Verstappen and his Red Bull was quickest on the Hard. At the same time, Piastri demonstrated that the Medium could be very competitive on the McLaren.
What’s next?
The longest season in Formula 1 history has reached its midpoint, and now there are two more Grands Prix before the summer break. They occur in Hungary from 19 to 21 July and in Belgium the following week. On the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Pirelli will also be working at the eighth round of the WRC, Rally Lithuania, and the fourth round of the GT World Challenge America at Virginia International Speedway.
This coming Tuesday and Wednesday, the McLaren, Haas, and Williams teams will again be on track at Silverstone for a test session to develop 2025 tyre constructions and compounds.
2024 Formula 1 British Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 1:22:27.059 | 25 | 110 |
| 2. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | +1.465s | 18 | 255 |
| 3. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +7.547s | 15 | 171 |
| 4. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | +12.429s | 12 | 124 |
| 5. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | +47.318s | 11 | 146 |
| 6. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | +55.722s | 8 | 22 |
| 7. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | +56.569s | 6 | 23 |
| 8. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | +63.577s | 4 | 45 |
| 9. | 45 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | +68.387s | 2 | 4 |
| 10. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +79.303s | 1 | 20 |
| 11. | 2 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Williams Racing | +88.960s | 0 | 0 |
| 12. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Denmark | Haas F1 Team | +90.153s | 0 | 5 |
| 13. | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Australia | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 11 |
| 14. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +1 lap | 0 | 150 |
| 15. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 16. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +2 laps | 0 | 3 |
| 17. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | +2 laps | 0 | 118 |
| 18. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +2 laps | 0 | 0 |
| 19. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | DNF | 0 | 111 |
| 20. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 6 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Red Bull Racing | 373 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 302 |
| 3. | McLaren Racing | 295 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 221 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 68 |
| 6. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 31 |
| 7. | Haas F1 Team | 27 |
| 8. | Alpine F1 Team | 9 |
| 9. | Williams Racing | 4 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 0 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
